Infusions of Beauty

Even when mental health issues darken our perceptions, we must train ourselves to experience beauty, for that is part of recovery. This short story will illustrate.

There was a ladybug who was so hungry with a deep, dark, hollow hunger that she could not, indeed, eat. This powerful emptiness immobilized her, and she began to wither and perish.

Then, a caterpillar, lush and large, found her laying on her back, giving up. The caterpillar righted her and she told him about her desperate hunger and black hollowness. The caterpillar asked if he made her a cup of tea, would she drink it? She said she would take sips of a good tea.

Caterpillar said he knew the perfect tea for her, and began to prepare the infusion. In the cup there was no water, but told her the recipe as he stirred a spoon around.

"This is a special infusion, and it will make you well enough to get up and eat again."

"But I can see there is nothing in the cup," the ladybug puzzled.

Caterpillar said, "This is an infusion of beauty. Tell me, what do you see around you right here that is beautiful."

Ladybug was weak, but was able to see around her and reply, "That dewdrop is beautiful." And caterpillar stirred in the dewdrop. Ladybug said, "That fading star from last night is beautiful."

And caterpillar stirred in the fading starlight. Ladybug said, "The orange of that honeysuckle is beautiful, and so is the scent of it's sweet nectar."

Caterpillar continued stirring as the ladybug noted three more things of beauty. "Your friendship is beautiful to me, the hope of a good meal is a beautiful thing, and so is my home here in this garden."

Caterpillar stopped stirring and leaned the tea cup over to her mouth and she took a sip of the infusion, even though the cup was dry, the tea was rich, fruitful, and restorative. From that day on, she got stronger and was able to walk and flutter around the garden and she always, every day, made herself a tea with an infusion of beauty.

from the new book,"Healing Metaphors," by Heidi Hansen, Mental Health Recovery Specialist c2014